PROBLEMATIC MOBILE PHONE USE, PHYSICAL FITNESS, BODY COMPOSITION, AND EATING BEHAVIOUR AMONG FEMALE UNIVERSITY ATHLETES AND HOSTEL RESIDENTS

Abstract

Smartphone use is an emerging issue in digital health among university students, however, the evidence regarding problematic smartphone use and objectively measured fitness, body composition and eating habits in female athletes and hostel residents is still limited. This is a cross-sectional study (n = 300) female University students, consist of Four groups each with 75 athletes and hostels residents from each institution. Mobile phone use problems, eating behaviour were assessed with adapted questionnaire items, aerobic fitness, power, flexibility, agility, sprint performance, grip strength, blood pressure, anthropometry and skinfolds were measured. Athletes performed longer standing broad jumps, more flexibility, faster 30m sprints and stronger handgrip than hostel residents, and reconstructed omnibus effects ranging from moderate to large were found for several outcomes. There were also significant differences in the selected eating-behavior items, including loss of control overeating, cue-responsive eating, binge eating without hunger and difficulty stopping before eating was finished. The differences among the skinfold measurements were small in general, while the differences among the BMI, the girth of the calf, and certain linear anthropometric measurements were between institutional and residence-sport groups. The results provide support for specific digital-wellbeing, physical-activity, nutrition, and sleep-hygiene interventions but not that the physical differences were caused by the phone use. Future studies should employ objective phone logs, accelerometry, validated complete scales, preregistered longitudinal designs, and reproducible de-identified datasets.